Smart Home Client Service Disaster - Help Encourage Google and Nest to Make a Better Decision about the Revolv Home Hub Shut Down!

Don't turn out the lights on loyal smarthome clients!

Providing good customer service sometimes seems difficult and maybe even costly, but in the long run, doing the right thing can help grow trust for a company and for a growing market. I am hoping we can convince Google and its subsidiary Nest to do better with regard to shutting down the Revolv Smart Home hub -
 

As Christna Warren posted on Mashable on April 5:

On its website, Revolv’s co-founders write:

So we’re pouring all our energy into Works with Nest and are incredibly excited about what we’re making. Unfortunately, that means we can’t allocate resources to Revolv anymore and we have to shut down the service. As of May 15, 2016, your Revolv hub and app will no longer work.

Revolv users – and there aren’t many of them – are upset. On Medium, Revolv owner Arlo Gilbert wrote about how the service will cease to work and what kind of implications that means for users.

He writes:

Is the era of IoT bringing an end to the concept of ownership? Are we just buying intentionally temporary hardware? It feels like it. I own a Commodore 64 that still works.

Mr. Gilbert also posted elsehwere, "As of May 15th, my house will stop working."

It can be understandable that a technology is no longer feasible or profitable to produce or even support, but good service would mean offering continued service or upgrading equipment, and bothering to send a real and sincere apology and not just expecting customers to find a message on a comapny website, especially when this change will have singificant consequences for those who have relied on the product. Also, what does a "lifetime" warranty mean?? And what about taking back the now obsoleted technology instead of just causing more junk in a landfill?  This is all problematic when Google has taken significant leadership positions on green building elsewhere, with company investments and partnerships, and in the buildings themselves. 

The Revolv Home Hub cost good money and an investment of time by its early adopting and loyal clients. Instead of being an example of pretty unwise service, it would be great if google and nest can do the honorable thing for themselves and for the growing green building and smart home markets and make a real effort to provide great service. Anything less is just a bad idea.  It's bad for these companies, bad for the people who spent money and gave trust, and trule terrible for the rest of us who might be contempating making these kinds of investments.  If others were burned, then why would we take that chance?  And this really not good for the smart home and green building markets.

Have you ever heard of ‪#‎Rackspace‬'s commitment to "fanatical" customer service? ‪Google‬ ‪and Nest‬ should take note!

-Allison

For more information:

http://mashable.com/2016/04/04/revolv-smart-home-shutdown/#bTDE1SDqHPqS

http://9to5google.com/2016/04/04/revolv-shutting-down-nest/

http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-nest-closing-smart-home-company-revolv-bricking-devices-2016-4?r=UK&IR=T&utm_content=buffer46c76&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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